CHAPTER 20: Not a One Trick Pony
The room had a single red carpet that ran from the door through the empty space to a stone throne. It was ratty and not well woven. Next to the throne was a three-foot-tall brown crystal, about six inches wide. The room was about 150 feet wide and 120 feet long. The height was two floors tall, with the walls only coming up ten feet high, then opening into a second floor that wrapped around the room with passageways in the middle of the left and right walkways. Large dim flickering torches were in the corners of the room as the only light sources while casting ugly shadows all around.
Adam screamed in pain as his left pinky was torn off his hand, staining the carpet with a new shade of red, and causing him to drop Lucas’s sledgehammer. The goblin chief just stood there smiling at him and continue to talk in his guttural words.
His yells felt unreal as they refused to echo in the creepy environment, simply sounding out and then dying. The cries didn’t reflect the pain he felt as he watched spikes of his own blood push their way out of his hand, tearing the flesh from the inside to the outside of his hand. He could feel the pull of the blood spikes as they tried to do the same to the rest of his fingers.
The pain lit up his brain too much to think. The river started to boil and the blood coming out of him was steaming. The pain and anger were almost too much for him to notice a scream of danger in his mind. Instinctively he responded to that danger and lifted his right leg just before a dagger reached from his shadow and tried to cut his Achillies tendon. When it didn’t find him, the direction changed, and the knife left a cut on his left calf before withdrawing to the shadow.
Adam roared to try and freeze his opponent, but instead of the usual fear, this time it caused excitement on the goblin’s face. Extra bloodlust had been added to the goblin. The tag of “Goblin Chief (25)” above the goblin marked him as much higher than anyone Adam had faced, but Adam was sure the dagger did not come from him.
Then a new body stepped out of the shadow cast by the throne. A goblin with a tag of “Shadow Wielder (22 [17])” stepped next to the chief, his face and body covered in black cloth, and he made a series of hisses. The chief hissed back in what Adam could only guess was gloating.
More anger surged in Adam and along the river, but this only caused his blood to pump harder and more to spill out where his pinky used to be. As the blood came out, it suddenly stopped moving downward and instead formed a spike that jabbed into this pointer finger, ripping it off too. Another scream escaped Adam, the lack of echo adding mockery to the pain. There had been no warning and no way to dodge his own blood.
Unable to contain himself, Adam launched himself towards the goblin chief. The Shadow Wielder stepped back into a shadow and disappeared. The chief laughed and started to run towards the side of the large room. He wasn’t especially fast, with Adam quickly closing on him. Adam’s thoughts were shallow as the pain and heat were reducing his body to acting instinctively. Chasing after the enemy seemed the extent of his decision capabilities.
As Adam approached the goblin chief, a quick red flash covered the goblin, and he sped up. Before he even had time to adjust to the chief’s movement change, Adam felt a new warning go off in his head and he went to dive to the side. As he changed his own direction, a physical pull from inside him tried to keep him in place. The pull was too weak to hold him, however it did reduce his velocity enough to allow the knife that came from the shadows to cut through his left side, tearing some of the muscles within. Once the knife cut him the pull went away and Adam was sent rolling across the ground, unable to control his balance from the speed changes.
More hissing laughs sounded in the room. Another dagger came out from the shadow at his feet and stabbed his right foot. Adam was able to move before it pinned him to the ground, but even in his state he realized how bad it would be to fight in this location.
Adam rolled to his feet and went to run towards the door but noticed that it was no longer there. The chief was standing in front of where it had been, holding a small brown crystal that he had spoken into. A glare from Adam quickly changed into a lunge forward as a dagger from a shadow cut his upper right arm.
Then more blood spikes formed in his right hand and tried to pierce outwards, similar to what happened with the left hand. Adam roared and let his heat explode inside of him, burning away whatever was trying to control his blood. He gripped his sledgehammer as tightly as he could so he wouldn’t drop it. This was enough for him to move too slowly to avoid another dagger coming up from a shadow and into his left thigh.
Instead of screaming, Adam tried to gather himself. He reached for the coolness, but it was pushed back by the heat spread throughout him. A sense of danger had him dive to the side, this time successfully dodging a dagger, but before he came up the chief was in front of him bringing his stick down on the fingers holding his hammer.
Adam tried to swing the hammer at the chief, but a dagger cut his shoulder blade. The cut was shallow, but the chief had already retreated. They were binding him, attacking from the shadows, and buffing the chief so Adam couldn’t use his higher strengths and speed. Even with a hazy mind, Adam knew there had to be someone else here. The chief couldn’t be doing these things, and he doubted a shadow wielder could also control blood. Adam took a deep breath, only to have his leg stabbed again.
This time it was Adam’s turn to run. All the stab wounds had stiffened his muscles and even with the river boiling he was too slow to outrun the buffed chief. He tried to move in odd ways to keep the shadow knives from hitting him, but between his own blood being used against him and his increasing wounds he just wasn’t able to escape. If he tried to hold his position then things got even worse. When he tried to jump to the second floor his leg and feet failed to use their strength. Through all this his blood was draining from his body from all the cuts and holes in him.
For 20 minutes Adam held on, trying to find a way. He looked for exits, he tried hiding in shadows. He tried extinguishing the torches only to find they wouldn’t go out due to magic. Hopelessness settled into Adam. All his strength and power were failing him. The boiling river slowed. The blood inside him was running out. The heat had burned itself out.
The anger he felt towards the goblins turned into anger towards himself. That meaningless anger then tried to find purchase on his emotions but found nothing to hold on to and faded. Without the anger he couldn’t sustain the river and his power seeped out of him. Lacking blood, and lacking strength, he dropped to his knees. Adam didn’t even have the strength to make a noise as a dagger pierced his right shoulder causing him to lose the use of his right arm. The hammer fell and clanged on the ground without an echo.
CONQUER! The river yelled at him.
I can’t fight them. They are too much.
CONQUER! His very soul demanded.
I’m a one trick pony. Strength and speed, and I’ve lost those.
CONQUER! His very essence begged as it drifted away.
Adam thought of his friends and companions. He had enjoyed fighting with them and relaxing at the house with them. For the first time in his life he had even enjoyed learning about other people and their backgrounds, even the upsetting ones. Through the connections he had made he could feel their trust and confidence in him. The connections he established, whether with the girls or the rest of the group, allowed him to feel their feelings and send feelings back in return. Having those connections, sharing emotions that couldn’t be found in normal surface level interactions, was a level of intimacy and joy he had never realized could exist. Even if he hadn’t consciously realized it, feeling those people so closely inside himself had giving his life new meaning and made him feel like more than just a single kid.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
He had no confidence left though. They had become important to him, and he was letting them down. He had been looking forward to dating Abbey. It had been so exciting getting a girlfriend, experiencing his first time, and have three girls flirt with him at once. He knew his family loved him and would miss him, but this was something new and wonderful. There had also been happiness when he helped free Brittney and Brandon from their memories, even if it didn’t fix the causes. He got to experience what they had gone through, seeing things through other eyes. Experiencing people on a level impossible before.
Adam didn’t want his friends to experience this moment through his connection. He didn’t want them to feel his despair and death. Instead of allowing his emotions through the connections, he cut them as he watched the shadow goblin’s knife getting ready to plunge into his chest, while the chief gloated over him. The tendrils connected to his friends pulled back and were returned to him.
“How does mind control fit into his build?” Tom’s voice asked from his memory.
I’m NOT a one trick pony!
Before the tendrils had finished returning, he opened his mind and sensed the nearby area for the spaces that held the formless energy representing other people. Then he hardened the tendrils and thrust them into the nearby spaces.
Three screams cried out and failed to echo. The chief grabbed his head and dropped to his knees. The shadow wielder dropped the knife and grabbed his nose as blood started coming out. The third scream sounded from the second floor near the throne.
CONQUER! Screamed the inner voice.
“Damn right!” yelled his outer voice as he put all his remaining strength into reaching the throne and jumping off it. In his weakened state the tendrils were being forced out of their targets. With one hand missing two fingers and the other arm hanging limply, Adam had to make this jump with only his legs.
Ignoring the blood flowing from him and the pain coming from the numerous injuries, he planted his feet on the throne. Foot onto the seat, other foot onto the back of the throne, and pushing as hard as he could, he barely made the jump.
Standing on the second floor while recovering from Adam’s mind attack was the most dangerous of his opponents. “Blood Manipulator (26 [21])” could be seen above the robed goblin’s head. It glared at the machete at his belt as his hand instinctively went towards it. The blood manipulator used his skill in a flash of red to prevent Adam’s bloody hand from reaching the long knife.
Adam knew he wouldn’t be able to hold or use the machete. No, he was planning on attacking with the only weapon he had left. The machete was just a distraction as Adam opened his mouth and leapt for the goblin’s throat like an animal. With no grace, and not caring, Adam bit down and tore at the blood manipulator’s throat.
He crushed the front and tore open the sides of the goblin’s neck. Blood flowed out of it and the goblin reached for his damaged neck. Adam took his palm and shoved the goblin back against the wall, causing a spurt of blood to shoot into his mouth and face. Unintentionally he swallowed the sweet-smelling blue blood.
A burst of energy hit Adam as he felt the goblin’s blood dissolve as he swallowed. The energy rushed to his heart and mixed with the heat there, causing it to surge. The heat once more spread through his body. Through the steam rising from his various wounds, he could see healing rush forward for just a moment before returning to normal. With that the energy was spent and he felt tired again.
“Talk about not fitting my build. Now blood makes me regenerate. What am I, a vampire?” Adam said out loud. “Guess that’s why blood smells so appealing. There is just no helping it.”
Adam held the unhygienic blood manipulator against the wall and then put his mouth up to where the blood was coming out. He repeatedly pressed his palm against its chest, trying to simulate the heart beating. Then he drank as much blood as he could. With it the heat increased and energy moved through his body and into his wounds. All the various cuts and stabs began healing. He could feel the muscles growing and the skin closing.
By the time the goblin was fully dead and Adam had gotten all the blood he was going to, his legs and arms were fully healed, as was the cut in his side. Most of his back and abdominal cuts were healed. His shoulder was moving, though a bit weakly. Looking at his hands, Adam also noticed that the two fingers were about one third of the way regrown.
Fortunately, Adam had two more blood bags he could make use of.
Curious as to why he hadn’t been attacked during all this, Adam turned and looked over the edge of the second floor. The shadow wielder was not visible, but the chief was, and he was mad. Hisses were flowing as the chief spoke into the brown crystal he carried.
Adam realized that the chief couldn’t see him. The area he was in was mostly darkness, and the edge of the walkway could easily obscure much of the throne room. That was why the blood manipulator had been impossible for him to see from below. Maybe the shadow wielder could also only use shadows cast by light instead of just darkness.
Deciding to try his abilities further, Adam closed his eyes and attempted to sense the spaces nearby, where he had sent the tendril attack earlier. He felt and reached, like always with his friends, but he wasn’t able to make out the location of the two closest forms. While he could form a tendril of coolness, it would not move outside his own space without a target.
Oh well, guess there has to be some limits to that attack.
Adam crouched down and watched the chief. There was no reason to go out there without a plan on how to handle the shadow wielder, and he still could not be sure of the chief’s abilities. As he watched the chief move around the room while talking into the crystal, he took a moment to find his weapons. The machete was still at his belt, but the sledgehammers were far apart. Lucas’s was near the wall opposite the throne, near where the doorway had been, and his heavier one was on the right side of the room, closer to where he was now.
After a while of observing, the chief suddenly turned and walked to the area where Adam had entered. The chief gave the crystal a command, and the wall reshaped itself to the entrance. Adam’s jaw dropped as he saw that. Reality had just warped at the chief’s command. Or at least that brown crystal’s command. Adam needed that crystal.
Unfortunately, he was unable to wait any longer as the chief was hurrying out of the room. Adam wanted to rush after him but knew that was a bad move with the shadow wielder still around. Backing to the wall of the second floor, out of sight of the throne room, Adam crept along it until he reached about where the hammer should be. He moved cautiously to the edge, trying to stay completely in darkness.
When he got to the edge, he threw himself off the second floor towards the hammer. Instead of grabbing it, he pushed his palm towards the largest shadow that came off the head of the hammer. As Adam expected, a dagger drove upwards and into his palm. Once it had pierced all the way through his hand, he closed his fingers on the hilt and the hand holding the knife. It hurt like hell, but his grip was stronger than the shadow wielder’s.
With his left hand he grabbed the part of the arm coming out of the shadow and then pulled the arm upwards. A hissing scream sounded out as the goblin on the other side of the shadow was unable to fit through such a small shadow.
If Adam continued to hold the wrist, he would be unable to move, and if he let go, the bastard would be able to travel somewhere else. However, if the shadow wielder was leaving blood behind him then Adam was sure he’d be able to follow him.
Adam twisted his right hand that was pierced with the knife until the goblin could not hold on to it any longer. Then he shook his hand until the dagger slid out. Knowing his machete was sharper than that knife, he used his weakening grip to pull the machete and slice through the arm protruding from the shadow.
A wail cried out as the shadow wielder fell away from the throne, rebounding away from the shadows as he had been trying to pull his arm free. Before he could get back to his feet, Adam’s machete flew across the room and sank into his eye. More screams came from the shadow wielder since the thrown machete did not penetrate enough to kill him. However, the goblin’s knife being jabbed into its throat like a spigot was enough to end him, especially as Adam drank as much of the blood as possible.
The heat spread through Adam and continued to heal his injuries and reinvigorate him. His palm wound closed up, though some of the inside would need more healing, his foot felt more usable, and more of his fingers grew back by the time he was done.
“This should be enough,” Adam said as he did a few quick jumps and movements to make sure he would be in fighting shape. In a hurry he grabbed both sledgehammers and ran from the room. A full sprint was more than he could handle, but he wasn’t sure what the chief had planned. Since the chief could make the other goblins stronger, Adam was concerned about his friends. He almost hoped they had chosen to retreat.